In September I wrote about the Hobonichi Techo, a cult-favorite Japanese day planner that will soon be made in an English version. Here's a fun video (with happy music) that shows illustrators drawing in copies of the planner.

I'd not heard of the Hobonichi Techo day planner until I read this interview with the publisher. An English version is coming out soon and I want one.

[I]n Japan there is one planner that for some years has been gathering a huge following. The Hobonichi Techo. (Techo — pronounced “tetch-oh” — means “handbook”.) One thing that makes it unique is that it is produced by the web media site Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun (or Hobonichi), but more than anything it is the sense of affection and camaraderie it has created amongst its users that has lifted it above the rest: “I use a Hobonichi Techo.” “So do I.” “Me too!” So the conversation goes.

And now, from this autumn, the English version of the Techo, the Hobonichi Planner, is due to go on sale worldwide. Tom Vincent sat down with the editor-in-chief of Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun and the person who created the Hobonichi Techo, Shigesato Itoi, to learn all about how the planner came to be.